This application relates to solid state microcavity optical devices including solid state microcavity light emitters.
Optical microcavities are miniaturized optical resonators that confine, store or trap light within small space. Various microcavity configurations are possible, including photonic crystal defect microcavities, whispering gallery mode microdisks, microspheres and microposts, and micro Fabry-Perot resonators. Optical microcavities can be characterized by an effective mode volume Veff which is a measure of the electric field strength per photon within the cavity, and a quality factor Q which is a measure of the photon lifetime within the cavity. Optical microcavities with a small Veff and a high Q offer the promise for applications in nonlinear optics, sensing, and cavity quantum electrodynamics (cavity QED). Chip-based devices are particularly appealing, as planar fabrication technology can be used to make optical structures on a semiconductor chip that confine light to wavelength-scale dimensions to create strong enough electric fields that even a single photon can have an appreciable interaction with matter. When combined with the potential for integration and scalability of microphotonic structures created by planar fabrication techniques, devices based on optical microcavities can be used in various applications.